Recording and Fench text by MNsCaptures by GreenEyesTranslation by Luisa

Christiane Charette : Our next guest then doesn't really need any introduction. It's actor Roy Dupuis who, when you think of all his projects, is probably the busiest Québécois actor at the moment. Hello Roy Dupuis !

Roy Dupuis : Hello !

CC : So the film Jack Paradise came out on screen on Friday. All the projects that you're filming one after the next at the moment are also all Québécois projects. Have you chosen to ...

RD : Well, I'm currently filming them one ...

CC : Yes, one at a time.

RD : One at a time, yes.

CC : Yes.

RD : It's Francis Leclerc's next film.

CC : Yes. You're chaining the work very close together at the moment, a bit like Lise Dion is.

CC : What's a day like today like for you ? A day that's, well, a television interview, you've come from a rehearsal for the Jutras evening. You're going to go back to rehearse. You're going to be on the stage. What are you going to do at the Jutras this evening ?

RD : We're doing a piece from the Jack Paradise film.

CC : You're doing a piece. You mean you're going to play the piano ?

RD : A musical piece.

CC : You, you're going to play the piano this evening ?

RD : I'm going to pretend to play the piano.

CC : Pretend.

CC : Pretend ?

RD : Pretend. Let's say, like I do in the film.

CC : So you pretend in the film ?

RD : Well, yes !

CC : You pretend. Yes, yes, okay.

RD : I'm an actor. Not ...

CC : Not a magician.

RD : Not a pianist like Jack Paradise. That's another profession altogether.

CC : Yes. So when you're pretending, it's a musician we hear and you're pretending of cour

Recording and Fench text by MNsCaptures by GreenEyesTranslation by LuisaClip No1 - 6MB (Real Player needed to view clips ) CC : Heh ? That ... yes. You like that film, heh ?

RD : The music has ... well, the biggest challenge for myself with that was to ultimately believe myself, to start to believe myself. If I believed myself, well, there was a good chance that it would happen. Then, well, the music itself, what James Gelfand and Daniel Mercure did, helped me enormously. Liking the music, that, that transported me. That helped me to play the piano, or to pretend to, anyway.

CC : To play the piano.

RD : Yes, I often let myself be carried by the feeling of being on stage, of ... I often really felt like a pianist would feel.

AL : No, no, it's absolutely ... Often, the most difficult thing ... There are a lot of films in which actors pretend to be pianists and it looks a bit ridiculous. Roy's ... Not at all, he really makes the right movements and, and ... No, no. It's ... Everything has such ... Films have been made where, although the pianist really looked as though they were playing, there was no real feel to it. But that was very, very correct.

RD : Yes, that's what I was also looking to avoid. My mother's a piano teacher, so I saw pianists at home from being first able to see.

AL : I think you can see that.

RD : Hmmm, I spent seven years learning the cello. That always enormously, well, enormously ... that always made me drop what I was doing to go and watch a film, to watch an actor play an instrument. That ...

CC : Wasn't believable.

RD : That wasn't believable, that simply didn't work out well. That made me lose interest. So I took the time, the time that was necessary I think, to start to ...

CC : It would have been a catastrophe without that. Because it's a film ... in fact, the star of this film, before the actors, and before Roy Dupuis, is the music. It's a film for people who like jazz, who like music. The music truly takes first place. So, if the way you pretended to play precisely like you did hadn't worked, it would've been a catastrophe !

RD : It wouldn't have worked !

CC : It wouldn't have worked because you're always, always, always there at your piano. So, it's like ...

RD : Yes, in the end, the character's particularly, well, a big part. It's ... for the most part the character is someone who ultimately tries to hide behind the music.

CC : Yes. Like Roy Dupuis hides behind his roles a bit in a way. You could say that. I could say that as an actor, Roy Dupuis hides behind his roles in a way, couldn't I ? Because as a person, you have a very, very unobtrusive presence. In public, you're a very unobtrusive person.

CC : Only a short appearance, but a notable appearance. When you had, when Denys Arcand approached you, when you were approached, I read that you didn't read the script first, as you ordinarily do, you accepted it straightaway. Is that right ?

RD : Well, before, well, he offered it to me ... I read the scenes. That was fun. And seeing it was a character who was ... Well, I didn't need to know about what happened in the rest of the film to play the character. I allowed myself not to read the script. By doing it that way, I thought 'Well, when I go to see the film, I'll be able to watch the film'. Because when you're in it, it's generally difficult to know, to know whether you like it or not. So, that's what I did.

CC : Yes. Then when you saw the film, what did you think ?

RD : I really liked it !

CC : Yes ? And did you find that you'd played ... because at the same time, you'd taken the risk of playing your scenes without knowing their context in relation to the rest of the film. Did you find you'd played your part well in its relation to the film as a whole ?

RD : Yes.

CC : Yes ?

RD : Yes, I was pleased with it. It turned out well.

CC : Yes ?

RD : Yes.

CC : Your international success. Er, well, I don't know, I don't know if you, you get that sort of feeling of collective pride you can get. The fact that Denys Arcand is winning awards like this, do you feel that in a collective way ? Do you say to yourself 'Ah ! Things are going well for us Québécois !' Do you get that feeling or don't you get that feeling, a feeling of collective pride as a result of achievement by someone amongst us ?

RD : Heeeeeeey, ahmm, hmm. Yes, yes then, then no. In the sense that , I mean, it's the film that counts. At the outset, it's not about awards for me.

CC : Yes. But do you say to yourself 'Look, the French ...'

RD : It's the product, it's the film itself. If I like the film and it wins all the awards going, so much the better ! If I don't like it and it wins them, that ... me ... what, what ultimately counts for me is cinema. It's the film itself, what it says, what it ... awards, well, that's extra, it's ... it's fun certainly ! It's fun to receive them !

CC : Yes ! That's right ! It amazes me because at the same time I say to myself 'It's a bit silly to be proud of something that's happening to Denys Arcand'. I say to myself 'What did I do in it ?' But yes, I have to say when I watched television yesterday, because I saw him on the television, I was very pleased. Without exaggerating, it was a bit like it was happening to me. I said to myself 'Loosen up a bit' you know. But yes, I was taken by the feeling in a way, absolutely.

CC: Yes, and you, how come at this moment all your projects are Quebecois? I am certain that there is a great demand for you outside of here. Was it you that made the choice? Do you feel more at ease with the offers that you receive from here?

RD: There is, hum…Well, I chose to be closer to home after, after the American series, I needed to stay home for awhile.

CC: After Nikita?

RD: I found the commute a little complicated, in different ways. Hum, but it’s also because these are the projects that interest me the most, right now.

CC: Yes, Then, the part, hum, the showbiz part, budget and all, that doesn’t have any effect on you?

RD: No

CC: Andre Forcier, then, is a….you know, Andre Forcier rarely makes films. His films are always exceptional. Because you are going to film with Andre Forcier, that doesn’t have an effect on you at all, the Hollywood machine? All that, then, you are completely immune against that?

RD: Perhaps. I don’t know. What counts , again what it comes back to….what counts for me, is the exact moment where I read the script and it pleases me, triggers something which makes me want to do the work, I can’t really say no.

CC : Yes.

RD: It’s like that, it grabs me. Nevertheless, I went to the National Theater School, I think, which was my base, where I learned why one becomes an actor. To express things. I think of interacting with Art. That still exists, the cinematographic art or the theatrical art. Then once you have been a part of that, it is a little like a drug. You want to return to it. It is quite nice to have big budgets, big screenplays, but once you get in to a script that makes you feel that what is said or being told is important, this story, in the manner that one wants to tell the story, I’m simply unable to walk away.

CC: Well, so if we spoke, if we talked…………in a few minutes you will be leaving. You will return to prepare for this evening, then, if we talk, we can say: “Roy Dupuis, he’s a purist!” Can we say that?

RD: No!

CC : No?

RD: No, because I’ve accepted work just for the money, from time to time. I mean to say

CC: One has to live!

RD: One has to live. That’s true, the money it's there. It’s a fair balance, perhaps. I don’t know.

CC: Then, you say

RD: But right now, that happens to be all the projects which I find important.